Ole J. Stordahl Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1026-1029 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				OLE J. STORDAHL. 

	Ole J. Stordahl has long been numbered among the substantial 
citizens and representative agriculturists of Minnehaha county, South 
Dakota, owning valuable farming land on section 14, Lyons township, 
where he has made his home for more than four decades. His birth 
occurred in Norway on the 23d of December, 1843, his parents being Jens 
Ansson and Bertha Larson, who came to the United States subsequent to 
the emigration of our subject. They took up their abode in Goodhue 
county, Minnesota, but died in Polk county, that state. 

	Ole J. Stordahl was reared to manhood in his native land and 
obtained his education in the public schools. He was married in Norway, 
in 1867, to Miss Brynhil Christenson, and in 1870, in company with his 
wife and one son, crossed the Atlantic to the United States, locating 
in Goodhue county, Minnesota. Three years later, in 1873, he came to 
South Dakota and entered the homestead on section 14, Lyons township, 
Minnehaha county, on which he still resides. Subsequently he also took 
up a tree claim, and this is likewise still in his possession. His wife 
owns a tract of one hundred and sixty acres two miles south of the home 
farm. In the cultivation of his land he has met with well merited 
success, annually gathering rich crops which find a ready sale on the 
market. 

	In 1874, one year after coming to this state, Mr. Stordahl lost 
his wife. They were the parents of four children, all of whom are 
deceased. In 1876 Mr. Stordahl was again married, his second union 
being with Miss Mary Blasterwod, also a native of Norway, who emigrated 
to America in 1870, settling in Goodhue county, Minnesota. The year 
1875 witnessed her arrival in South Dakota. By her marriage to Mr. 
Stordahl she became the mother of ten children, seven of whom still 
survive, as follows: Brynhil, who is the wife of Joseph Dokken and 
resides in the state of Washington; Lars, at home; Olena, who is a 
nurse in a Sioux Falls hospital; Ole, at home; Brent, a practicing 
attorney of Sioux Falls; Gustav, at home; and Tina, a student in the 
Madison State Normal School. 

	Mr. Stordahl is a republican in politics and has served as 
township treasurer for the past twenty years, making a highly 
creditable and commendable record in that connection. For a period of 
fourteen years he also held the office of postmaster at West Point. He 
is a stockholder in Lyons Bank of which he is vice president. He is a 
member of the Lutheran synod and exemplifies its teachings in his daily 
life. Mr. Stordahl has never regretted his determination to seek a home 
in the new world, for here he found the opportunities which he sought 
and in their wise utilization has won prosperity and an honored name.